Phone booths of the world

Like the Galapagos tortoise, the polar bear and New Zealand’s own kakapo (a peculiar ground-dwelling night parrot), the phone booth is rapidly becoming an endangered species.

Once a ubiquitous feature of our urban landscapes and a lifeline in times of need, phone booths have been rendered all but obsolete by the relentless march of the mobile phone. There are now few places left on our planet free of the blight of cellphone towers and too-loud conversations on public transport.

I have therefore made it my mission to preserve, by means of photography, these cultural and technological artifacts in all their glory and variety, wherever I find them.

Click on the previews below to view a selection of phone booths from Albania to Vanuatu.

 

 

12 thoughts on “Phone booths of the world

  • June 26, 2018 at 4:22 am
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    I absolutely love your work. Photography and words.

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  • June 26, 2018 at 6:47 pm
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    My fave, the red hooded variety masquerading as parking meters

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    • June 27, 2018 at 6:39 am
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      Good choice Sandra, a very rare species that. Possibly even critically endangered now that their habitat is no longer in Ukraine but part of Russia. (Bakhchissarai, where that photo was taken, is in Crimea.)

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  • June 27, 2018 at 1:14 am
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    Great blog Peter… Keep up the good work!

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  • June 27, 2018 at 3:02 am
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    I have two favorite’s, the one on Port Vila Vanatua, because of the design and the contrast with the food wrapped in banana leaves. Number two is Mardin, Turkey because of the contrast of modern technology with ages old architecture.

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    • June 27, 2018 at 6:40 am
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      Good call Ben. Some day I will visit you again and Mexico to the collection.

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  • June 27, 2018 at 9:29 am
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    Bring back the phone booth! There’s no where more convenient for a person of super stature to change otherwise

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    • June 28, 2018 at 10:28 am
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      Agreed Geraldine! But I think you’ve just given away your secret identity…

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  • June 27, 2018 at 12:36 pm
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    Sensational photos – not just the crazy phone boxes but your beautiful composition, and those locations! The oddest “box” is Georgia – it looks like the phone was housed in some piece of ‘ancient’ / industrial architecture or plumbing which may have been re-purposed.

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    • June 28, 2018 at 10:31 am
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      Thanks Kerry! That’s also a personal favourite. At that time half the country looked like some kind of post-apocalyptic, post-industrial wonderland. It was awesome.

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